


Two Minutes Til Midnight

by mossstockings



Category: Frozen (Disney Movies)
Genre: Childhood Friends, F/M, First Kiss, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, Honestly just me self indulging, Love Confessions, new years fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-31
Updated: 2019-12-31
Packaged: 2021-02-27 06:02:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,299
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22052221
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mossstockings/pseuds/mossstockings
Summary: In the final minutes of the decade, Anna spontaneously decides to confess her love for her childhood best friend and, more recently, college crush, Kristoff. However, it soon takes an unexpected turn.
Relationships: Anna & Kristoff (Disney), Anna/Kristoff (Disney)
Comments: 4
Kudos: 63





	Two Minutes Til Midnight

**Author's Note:**

> This is so self-indulgent you have no idea, but I hope someone enjoys it maybe??? Anyhow, Happy New Years and I hope you all have a wonderful 2020!!!

Anna hunched her shoulders and pushed through the crowd gathered around the TV in the den. She reached Kristoff, who, thanks to his enormous frame, had no trouble looking over the partygoers to see the flashing images of Times Square as the camera panned from the crush of people to the glittering ball hovering above their heads. 

“Hey,” Anna said. 

Kristoff flinched, nearly spilling the wine in his hand. “Anna,” he said, relieved. “You surprised me.” He gave an easy smile and she felt her cheeks warm. 

She and Kristoff had been inseparable since childhood when he moved in across the street and the two became fast friends. Things began to change when they started college the previous fall. Suddenly, Anna took notice of the warm brown of his eyes, the way his hair turned to gold in the afternoon light, the timbre of his voice, the strength in his biceps…

She shook her head. The rise and fall of conversation filled her ears and her eyes returned to Kristoff. “Sorry about that,” she said, wiping her palms against her jeans. 

“Just a few minutes until twenty twenty,” he said. He raised his glass, “Here’s to the new decade together, just one of many.”

Anna touched her cup to his. The soft  _ clink _ of their glasses reverberated in her ears as she took a sip. The wine’s sickly sweet taste coated her throat, momentarily muddying her senses and softening the scraping of silverware against ceramic and the cackling of makeup-covered women in clattering acrylic nails. Her gaze wandered to Kristoff, who somehow managed to stand out against the blurred backdrop of the party in crisp lines and a riot of gold, brown, burgundy, and gray. He seemed to draw her in, as if an invisible hook had lodged itself in her heart and was urging her forward. Before she could stop herself, the words came out in a tumble.

“ _ KristoffcanItalktoyouforamoment? _ ”

He blinked, “Sorry?”

Anna hesitated. She could make something up, say she was just muttering to herself, but something inside her pushed her on.  _ Too late to back out now,  _ it whispered. 

“Kristoff, can I talk to you for a moment?” she finally managed. “Alone?”

“Yeah, whatever you need,” Kristoff said. 

Anna steeled herself and lead him out of the living room and through the quiet darkness of the house until they reached a pair of french doors leading to a balcony. She pushed them open, the freezing night air nipping at her exposed face and fingers. Frost coated the lawn below and crept over the balcony’s railing. Several rough hewn flower pots stood near the threshold, empty save for a few withered corpses of plants fallen victim to the bitter winter. They stepped outside and Anna closed the doors behind them. 

“Are you gay, too?” Kristoff asked. 

Anna snorted, “I’m not coming out, Elsa already did that.”

He chuckled and stepped forward, resting his arms on the railing and lifting his eyes to the night sky where a single star struggled to peek through the thick layer of fog. His breath came out in icy clouds in time with the rise and fall of his chest. The night hugged the curve of his nose and cut of his jaw.  _ Beautiful _ , Anna thought. 

“So, if you aren’t coming out then what is it you want to tell me?” Kristoff asked, turning to Anna. 

Anna swallowed hard, “You know, we’ve been friends for a long time.”

“A long time is an understatement,” Kristoff said. “You were quite possibly the first real friend I’d ever had.”

Anna was suddenly grateful for the darkness hiding her blush, “Oh, come on, you’re a charming guy, I’m sure you had other people before me.”

“Not a lot of people saw much in me. To them, I was just the poor orphaned boy who lived with his grandparents and his shy cousin, Sven. No one reached out until you.” Kristoff said. He sighed and ran a hand through his hair, “You’re more amazing than you’ll ever know.” 

Anna shrugged, “I don’t know about that, Elsa’s always been the special one. She’s the one who left people in awe with her voice, who got into Juilliard and built herself a name and a fortune using nothing but her own talent and grit.”

“Amazing doesn’t always come in big, showy packages you know,” Kristoff answered. “Sometimes it just comes in someone who just stands by your side no matter what. You’ve done that for me all our lives.”

“That’s just what you’re supposed to do,” Anna said. 

Kristoff laughed, “And that’s what makes you so special. You don’t even realize that your kindness is a rarity, that you’re a treasure.” 

His gaze scanned her face and she suddenly felt bare. Her jeans were wrinkled from being shoved in the corner of her room the previous night. Her makeup was smeared, revealing an angry red pimple on her chin. The cashmere sweater she thought looked dazzling in the mirror at home suddenly seemed to pale in comparison to the designer cocktail dresses and silk blouses the guests inside wore.  _ He’s seeing me for what I am _ , she thought, averting her gaze.  _ A sidekick, a sad imitation of Elsa, someone to be pitied _ . 

“I think I love you,” Kristoff said softly, his voice nearly swallowed by a gust of mid-Winter wind.

Anna slowly raised her eyes to his. There was a faint ringing in her ears, warmth rising in her chest. “W-what?” 

Kristoff paused. His face went distant as the gravity of what he’d said hit him. Anna recognized the look from mere minutes before, when her mouth betrayed her and brought Kristoff out here to tell him the very same thing. 

His adam’s apple bobbed as he gulped and faced her. “I said I love you.” 

Blood roared in her ears and the world suddenly came into screaming focus. The scent of Kristoff’s cologne, evergreen and mint with a hint of mulberry, tantalized her nose. The cold suddenly turned brutal, stinging and burning her skin as it fought against the warm caress of her clothes. She could hear the party inside as the guests’ voices joined in a chorus, counting down the final moments of the year, “five...four…” It all paled next to Kristoff--handsome, brave, selfless Kristoff, with his powerful shoulders and bottomless laugh. Kristoff, the one who loved her.

The chorus rose into a roar behind her, “Three...two...”

“I love you, too,” she said. The wind hummed in her ear. The bare trees shivered and knocked against each other in anticipation. 

“One.”

Kristoff pushed forward, taking Anna’s hands in his and pulling her close. His movements were charged with excitement, his eyes dancing with a wild look barely contained by his own good nature. “May I kiss you?”

Anna squeezed his fingers, “You may.”

“Happy New Year!”

His lips found hers, and all at once the cold was chased away, her insecurities melted into nothing, and the world felt safe. The whooping from inside disappeared and the icy landscape dissolved. Her heart pounded and her head spun and she couldn’t tell if the kiss or the alcohol was to blame.

They pulled apart as the noise died down, leaving them surrounded by the newborn January silence. Kristoff leaned forward to touch his forehead to Anna’s.

“You’re so special,” he murmured. “So special.”

Anna caressed his cheek, his stubble scratching against her fingertips. “You are too,” she said. 

She could feel the lone star watching them from above and hear the underbrush whispering as a breeze rustled its bare branches. The world felt reborn, cleansed of its flaws and cast in a silver lining. 

_ Here’s to the first kiss _ , she thought, peeking out into the black.  _ And the next, and the next, and the next _ .


End file.
